Comments on: Coming of Age: The Importance of Male Rites of Passagehttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/
Men's Interests and LifestyleTue, 31 Mar 2015 12:20:00 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Johnhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-1104424
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 00:32:00 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-1104424As an almost 30 year old “boy” I decided way before reading this article to build my own rite based on personal knowledge about ancient tribes. I needed it to build confidence.

Never had left my country alone, so I traveled to Ushuaia “the end of the world” located in Argentinian Patagonia. Once there I went to an isolated wood far from the town, with an alive chicken, a knife, a bowl, a thermo full of hot coffee and a set of new clothes.

I didn’t eat the whole day and the idea was to spend at least 24 hours alone ans without food. It started in the morning, setting some kind of camp and a fire with my bare hands without any lighter or fuel. As the night arrived I got naked because I had to experiment the pain of cold weather and resist a whole night without sleep without any external help or commodity just as my ancestors used to do when they lived in the wilderness by themselves. It was a long and awful night. Those hours were spent thinking about all the wasted time, the new “me” arousing and the responsibilities and behavior to come the day later.

When the sun started to arise, I killed the chicken with my hands cutting it’s head with the knife (never had killed an animal before) as a symbol of the needed actions and sacrifices to make for providing myself and the others under my care with proper means of food. I spreaded the blood over my body as a symbol of impurity and as part of the ritual ancients used to do when painting their body for war or rituals. The chicken was eviscerated and cooked in the fire with a stick. The remaining parts were burnt in the bonfire with my old clothes. While eating, my knife was heated until turned red in the fire. When I finished eating, I took the knife and putted the hot blade in my right shoulder, right on top of where my birthmark of vaccine used to be. Was a hell of a pain, but with that I erased the remaining part of my body from my baby stage and created a new mark for adulthood. To end the rite I took a bath in a nearby pond to wash the blood and all the other stuff and recover my purity again. Wore the new clothes and built a small stone totem where the fire was set. I left the place as a man, and since then I felt way more confident and happy with myself.

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Wed, 08 Oct 2014 15:53:00 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-1099204There is an organization called Boys To Men. It is an incredible Rites of Passage for young boys from the ages of 13-17. This program was initially started in San Diego. I got a group of men together and we started Boys To Men Texas. I highly suggest this program.

Also, there is an organization for men called The Mankind Project (New Warriors). This is an unbelievable organization that incorporates ceremony and ritual throughout the weekend experience. Men have an opportunity to reclaim the mature masculine. I highly recommend this weekend experience.

]]>By: maybeanandroidhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-1077142
Fri, 01 Aug 2014 16:37:00 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-1077142Here’s an idea for the brave (and psychedelically experienced):http://www.maps.org/resources/ritesofpassage/
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Fri, 04 Jul 2014 05:03:00 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-1072488Yeah, pretty much missed out on this. It really is just about gone from modern society, huh?
]]>By: Markhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-665316
Tue, 13 May 2014 23:23:15 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-665316I grew up on a family farm and as a boy you were conisdered a man when you could handle the farm alone without help from your parents. For me that was about age 9 or 10. I was expected to be able to do anything from fix fence, to drive tractors to shoot a coyote if needed when my parents were away for farm buisness of other things. The confidence shown by my parents in saying to me, “Well were leaving for a couple days to go see so and so. You take care of the place while were gone.” scared me s***less. But I was able to handle everything that came up while they were gone. There is no better feeling of accomplishment than having no idea of you can handle things, taking it head on and coming out on top. I was taught at a young age ot never fear failure. Failure was not a bad thing, it meant you learned a lesson, you applied that lesson to your life and moved on. Todays youth have been taught that failure is not an option and its a terrible bad thing when you fail. Therefore many young people are afraid to take a leap into something because of the fact they may fail. They stand and look and say what if. I always looked, leaped and regardless if the outcome was positive or negative, i always figured at the end of the day, i likely learned something new and as long as nobody got hurt (too bad) in the melee it was all good. That willingness to leap into the unknown is missing from most people today, and it has served me well through life. At 34 years of age ive served my country in the Army, worked jobs ranging from mechanic, to electroinics tech to janitor, seen enough of the world to know my home state of South Dakota is a darn good place to be, and tackled every challenge the faced me with the attitude of “well lets see if i can do that.”
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Thu, 01 May 2014 21:11:19 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-650954I, like most men here probably, have been floating and not marching through life, and am always impressed w/ the content and readership of this site….

I am a Scout (Webelo) leader and have come to firmly believe in the value they provide (even though today’s Scout is much different than a few decades ago).

I think it might be valuable to have a Scout program for adult males as well…

]]>By: Ariosto M.http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-540101
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 18:53:44 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-540101As always this is an excellent post.
I had I sort of rite of passage when I was 17 and went abroad for a year. Changing culture, continent, climate, food, learning, accepting and doing all this away not only from my family, but everything that was familiar to me. I see my life as before and after that whole year. Incredibly, because something I had to experience alone and without a roadmap, I unlearned somethings I knew, learning many others at the same time. But learning to be alone, thinking and meditating about myself, change me from a boy to something new. Although not yet a man as I have learned now that I am 33.

After that year, I came back to live to my parents’ house for another 5 years. Until I left for good at 25. I feel like this was a fallback from where I was.

]]>By: Garyhttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-539709
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 00:49:49 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-539709I never had a rite of passage. :(
]]>By: Carloshttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-531962
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 17:55:10 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-531962First of all awesome website. Our society needs this. One of my first rite of passage was when I was 15. My father was an Amateur Boxer in his days and one of the things I had to learn to be a man was to fight. So at age 15 I had to fight my old man in a good old fashion no time limit boxing match. Ill never forget that, I am 38 yrs old now. I say first rite of passage because I have had many based on what I learned from my father and I know there will be more ahead. I think there are different levels of being a man in a mans life and I think each level has its own rite of passage.
]]>By: Chrishttp://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/11/09/coming-of-age-the-importance-of-male-rites-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-524809
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 05:52:47 +0000http://artofmanliness.com/?p=1063#comment-524809The past few months I have been letting my beard grow into a wild-mess of brown hair tipped with Irish red with a feel akin to a cheese grater. Although, not my personal right of passage. My face-wolverine has pivoted me towards a direction that I haven’t veered to yet. I’d like to think that direction is Manhood.
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